Benutzer:Cimbail/Joseph Priestley House

aus Wikipedia, der freien Enzyklopädie
Joseph Priestley House
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
Zur Priestley Avenue gelegene Gebäudeseite, 2007

Zur Priestley Avenue gelegene Gebäudeseite, 2007

Lage 472 Priestley Avenue, Northumberland, Pennsylvania
Koordinaten 40° 53′ 25,8″ N, 76° 47′ 23,5″ WKoordinaten: 40° 53′ 25,8″ N, 76° 47′ 23,5″ W
Fläche 1 acre (ca. 4.000 m2)
Erbaut 1798
Architekt Mary Priestley
Baustil Georgianische Architektur, Federal Style
NRHP-Nummer 66000673
Daten
Ins NRHP aufgenommen 15. Oktober 1966
Als NHL deklariert 12. Januar 1965

Das Joseph Priestley House war von 1798 bis zu seinem Tod das Haus des englischen unitarischen Theologen, Dissenters, Naturphilosophen und Politiktheoretikers Joseph Priestley (1733–1804). Wegen der religiösen Verfolgung in Großbritannien, bei den Priestley Riots hatten sie 1791 ihr Haus und ihren gesamten Besitz verloren, waren die Priestleys 1794 in die Vereinigten Staaten gekommen. In der Hoffnung auf einen ruhigen Lebensabend entschlossen sie sich zum Bau eines Hauses im ländlichen Pennsylvania. Das Gebäude in Northumberland, Pennsylvania wurde von Priestleys Ehefrau Mary entworfen.

Nach dem Tod der Priestleys blieb das Haus zunächst in Privatbesitz. Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts erwarb George Gilbert Pond, ein Professor der heutigen Pennsylvania State University, das Haus und versuchte das erste Priestley Museum zu gründen. Pond starb bevor er den Plan verwirklichen konnte. In den 1960er Jahren wurde das Haus von der Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) erworben, renoviert und zur National Historic Landmark erklärt. Eine zweite Renovierung in den 1990er Jahren sollte das Gebäude äußerlich in den Zustand zurückversetzen, in dem es sich zu Priestleys Lebzeiten befunden hatte.

Die American Chemical Society nutzte das Gebäude wiederholt für feierliche Veranstaltungen, so zum 100- und 200-jährigen Jubiläum der Entdeckung von Sauerstoff durch Joseph Priestley (1774) und zur Feier von Priestleys 250. Geburtstag. Das Haus wird seit 1970 als ein Joseph Priestley gewidmetes Museum betrieben. Im August 2009 wurde es wegen Budgetkürzungen und niedriger Besucherzahlen geschlossen, aber im Oktober desselben Jahres von einem privaten Förderverein wieder eröffnet.

Lage

Datei:Priestley House Northumberland Map.png
Northumberland, Teilansicht mit dem Joseph Priestley House nahe dem Zusammenfluss zweier Arme des Susquehanna River

Nach dem Siebenjährigen Krieg von 1756 bis 1763 und der erzwungenen Abwanderung von indianischen Völkern nach Westen besiedelten deutsche, schottisch-irische und andere europäische Einwanderer das Tal des Susquehanna River, einschließlich der Gegend des späteren Northumberland County.[1] Die Stadt Northumberland wurde 1772 um einen Anger herum geplant. Das Land war 1768 von der Province of Pennsylvania im Rahmen des ersten Vertrags von Fort Stanwix den Irokesen abgekauft worden. Der Big Runaway während der während der Amerikanischen Revolution führte 1778 zur Evakuierung der Gemeinde, die erst 1784 wieder besiedelt wurde.[2] 1794, als die Priestleys eintrafen, gabe es Gemeindehäuser der Quäker und Wesleyaner, eine Brauerei, zwei Töpfereien, einen Düngemittelhersteller, einen Uhrmacher, eine Druckerei die eine Wochenzeitung herausgab, mehrere Geschäfte und etwa einhundert Wohnhäuser.[3]

Reuben Haines, der sich die Landrechte für das spätere Northumberland gesichert hatte, verkaufte ein Grundstück am North Way mit den vier Parzellen Nummer 29 bis 32 des ursprünglichen Gemeindeplans 1794 für 500 britische Pfund an die Priestleys.[4] Die ursprüngliche Fläche des Grundstücks betrug 2 acres, etwa 8.000 m2,[5] aber um 1830 wurde die Hälfte davon für den Bau des nördlichen Zweigs des Pennsylvania Canal abgetrennt. Am 31. Mai 1860 wurde eine in geringer Entfernung hinter dem Haus verlaufende Eisenbahnstrecke eröffnet.[6] Der Kanal wurde 1902 geschlossen und später verfüllt, ungefähr an seiner Stelle verläuft heute eine neue Eisenbahnstrecke. Die Gleistrasse hinter dem Haus besteht nicht mehr.[7]

Heute umfasst das Grundstück etwa 1 acre (4.000 m2) an der 472 Priestley Avenue, dem früheren North Way.[7][8]) Diese Straße bildet die nordwestliche Grundstücksgrenze, im Nordosten liegt die Hanover Avenue, im Südwesten die Wallis Street und im Südosten die Eisenbahnstrecke.[7] Jenseits der Bahntrasse befindet sich ein Baseballfeld und dahinter der Susquehanna River, der ursprünglich die südöstliche Grundstücksgrenze bildete. Das Grundstück befindet sich etwa einen Kilometer nördöstlich vom Zusammenfluss zweier Arme des Susquehanna River.

Priestleys in Amerika

Datei:Priestley Mary.jpg
Mary Priestley, who designed the house, by Carl Frederik von Breda (1793)
Datei:PriestleyPeale.jpg
Joseph Priestley, painted late in life by Rembrandt Peale, after he had left off wearing his wig American-style (c. 1800)[9]

Auswanderung nach Northumberland

Die letzten drei Jahre in Großbritannien waren für die Priestleys eine Zeit politischer und religiöser Verfolgung, die sie letztlich zu ihrer Auswanderung in die Vereinigten Staaten veranlasste. Während der gegen Priestley gerichteten Birmingham Riots, wurden ab dem 14. Juli 1791 das Haus der Priestleys, Josephs Kirche, und die Häuser vieler weiterer Dissenter niedergebrannt. Die Priestleys flohen aus Birmingham und lebten zweieinhalb Jahre lang in Hackney bei London, aber auch dort konnten sie der gegen die Dissenter gerichteten Stimmung nicht entkommen.[10] 1794 gehörten sie zu den 10.000 Auswanderern nach Amerika, der bis zum Ende der Napoleonischen Kriege größten Zahl in einem Jahr.[11] Anfang April 1794 verließen Joseph und Mary Priestley Großbritannien auf dem Schiff „Samson“[12], sie trafen am 4. Juni 1794 in New York City ein.[13] Zwei ihrer Söhne, Joseph und Harry, waren im August 1793 mit dem radikalen Aktivisten Thomas Cooper, einem Freund Priestleys, nach Amerika gekommen.[14] Ihr Sohn William war von Frankreich nach Amerika ausgewandert, wahrscheinlich Anfang 1793, nach den Septembermassakern des Vorjahres.[15]

Während Priestley in Europa vorrangig als Naturwissenschaftler und Entdecker des Sauerstoffs bekannt war, galt er in den Vereinigten Staaten als Kämpfer für die Religionsfreiheit und als Unterstützer der Amerikanischen Revolution.[16] Unmittelbar nach seiner Ankunft wurde er von verschiedenen politischen Gruppen umworben, die sich seiner Unterstützung versichern wollten. Priestley ging darauf nicht ein, wohl auch in Erinnerung an den politischen Unfrieden, der ihn in Großbritannien umgeben hatte. In einem Brief an John Adams schrieb er dass er keinen Anteil an der Politik eines Landes nehmen wolle in dem er ein Fremder sei, und in dem er nur ungestört leben wolle.[17] Priestley wurde nie Bürger der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika,[2][18]) und lehnte ein Angebot zum Unterrichten der Chemie an der University of Pennsylvania ab.[19]

Die Priestleys zogen zunächst nach Philadelphia, wo Joseph mit einer Reihe von Predigten zur Verbreitung des Unitarismus beitrug. In den folgenden zehn Jahren wurden unter Priestleys Einfluss mindestens zwölf Glaubensgemeinschaften in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia und Kentucky gegründet, darunter die First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia und Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley in Northumberland.[20][21][22] Während seiner Jahre in Amerika glaubte Priestley zunehmend an das bevorstehende Millennium. Seine intensiven Bibelstudien und die Ereignisse in Frankreich überzeugten ihn davon, dass er die Wiederkunft Jesu Christi erleben würde.[23]

Priestley genoss seine Tätigkeit als Prediger in Philadelphia, doch er konnte sich die hohen Lebenshaltungskosten in der Stadt nicht leisten. Darüber hinaus fühlte er sich in der Gegenwart der in der Stadt dominierenden Quäker unwohl und war wegen des Gelbfiebers besorgt, dass kurz zuvor zahlreiche Opfer in der Stadt gefordert hatte.[24] Joseph Priestley wäre gerne nach Germantown gezogen, das nicht so abgelegen wie Northumberland war, aber Mary bevorzugte das Land und wollte in der Nähe ihrer Söhne sein. Die Absicht Priestleys, seine Zeit abwechselnd in Northumberland und Philadelphia zu verbringen, ließ sich nicht realisieren, die Entfernung betrug seinerzeit fünf Tagesreisen. Um die wirtschaftliche Sicherheit der Familie zu gewährleisten kaufte Priestley das Grundstück in Northumberland und zog mit Mary im Juli 1794 dorthin,[25] auch in der Hoffnung dass sich eine größere Gemeinde entwickeln würde.[26]

Datei:Priestley Burning Lens Replica.jpg
A replica (on a smaller scale) of the burning lens owned by Priestley

Priestley war zumindest in der Zeit unmittelbar nach dem Umzug nach Northumberland unzufrieden mit der Abgelegenheit des Ortes und beklagte sich in Briefen an zurückgebliebene Freunde darüber, insbesondere über die lange Zeit die Nachrichten aus Europa bis zu ihm benötigten.[27] Er äußerte sich dankbar für das gewährte Asyl und er war bemüht das Beste aus seiner Situation zu machen,[28] aber er betrachtete sich auch als Flüchtling und England weiterhin als seine wahre Heimat.[29]

Mit der Unterstützung der American Philosophical Association versuchte Priestley seine wissenschaftliche Arbeit in den Vereinigten Staaten fortzusetzen. Er erhielt jedoch von den neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen nur verspätet Nachricht aus Europa, und stand daher nicht mehr an der Spitze der Forschung. Trotz seiner geringeren wissenschaftlichen Bedeutung veröffentlichte er noch eine große Zahl von Schriften und weckte in Amerika das Interesse an der Chemie.[30][31]

Letzte Jahre

Priestleys scheiterte mit dem Versuch, in den Vereinigten Staaten politische Auseinandersetzungen zu vermeiden. Ab 1794 veröffentlichte der Journalist William Cobbett in mehreren Auflagen die Schrift Observations on the Emigration of Dr. Joseph Priestley, in der er Priestley fälschlicherweise der aufrührerischen Betätigung in Großbritannien bezichtigte und seine wissenschaftliche Glaubwürdigkeit in Frage stellte. Seine politische Lage verschlechterte sich, als Cobbett einige an Priestley gerichtete Briefe des radikalen Druckers John Hurford Stone und der liberalen Schriftstellerin Helen Maria Williams in seinen Besitz bringen konnte. Cobbett veröffentlichte die Briefe in seiner Zeitung und versicherte, dass Priestley und seine Freunde eine Revolution vorbereiteten.[32] Priestley war gezwungen sich mit einer Veröffentlichung zu verteidigen.[33]

Auch Familienangelegenheiten belasteten Joseph Priestley. Der jüngste Sohn Harry starb am 11. Dezember 1795, wahrscheinlich an Malaria. Mary Priestley starb am 17. September 1796, sie war krank und erholte sich nach dem Schock über den Tod ihres Sohnes nicht mehr.[34] Joseph Priestley schrieb am 19. September das er an diesem Tag seine Frau begrabe. Sie habe sich viele Gedanken um den Bau des neuen Hauses gemacht und nun, da es weit fortgeschritten sei und alles verspreche was sie sich erwünscht hatte, sei sie in ein anderes gezogen.[35] Nach einem Abendessen am 14. April 1800 erkrankten mehrere Mitglieder des Haushalts mit Symptomen einer Lebensmittelvergiftung. Das nahm der Reading Advertiser zum Anlass, Priestleys Sohn William eines Giftanschlags mit Arsen zu beschuldigen.[36][37]

Datei:Priestley Bedroom.jpg
Schlafzimmer des Joseph Priestley House, mit dem Teegedeck des Paares aus Porzellan, einer Kaminuhr und Stühlen

Ab 1801 war Priestley so krank dass er an einem effektiven Schreiben oder Experimentieren gehindert war. Am 3. Februar 1804 begann er in seinem Lanbor ein letztes Experiment, doch er war zu schwach um es zu beenden. Er begab sich in ein Bett in seiner Bibliothek und starb drt drei Tage später.[38] Sein Grab liegt auf dem nahegelegenen Riverview Cemetery in Northumberland.[39]

Architektur und Landschaft

Datei:LambournePlan.jpg
T. Lambourne's drawing of the Joseph Priestley house (c. 1800) was discovered in 1983 by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission researchers.[40]

Joseph and Mary lived with their son Joseph, Jr. and his family in a small house while theirs was being built.[41] Mary Priestley was primarily responsible for the design of the couple's new home and her family inheritance may have helped finance it, but she died before it was completed.[42] By 1797, Joseph's laboratory was completed—the first part of the home to be finished. It was the first laboratory that "he had designed, built, and outfitted entirely himself"[43] and was probably the first "scientifically-equipped laboratory" in the United States.[44] Joseph continued his scientific and scholarly work in his new laboratory, identifying carbon monoxide (which he called "heavy inflammable air").[38][45] In 1798 Joseph Jr., his wife, and their children moved into the new house with Joseph Priestley.[41] The house also held Priestley's library, which contained about 1600 volumes by his death in 1804 and was one of the largest in America at the time.[45] The Priestley family held Unitarian church services in the drawing room and Joseph educated a group of young men until the local Northumberland Academy that he helped found was completed.[46]

The house proper was completed in 1798, with a Mr. Jones of Northumberland employed acting as master carpenter.[47] Built in an 18th-century Georgian style, the "balance and symmetry" of the architecture signaled "subdued elegance".[48] The house was accented with Federalist highlights, such as "the fanlights over the doors and the balustrades on the rooftop belvedere and main staircase", marking it as distinctly American.[49] Douglas R. McMinn, in the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Northumberland Historic District, calls it a "mansion" that is "probably the finest example of the Federal style in the region".[2] As William N. Richardson, the site administrator for the Joseph Priestley House in the 1990s, notes, Priestley's American home did not resemble his "high-style Georgian town house" that was destroyed in Birmingham; rather, it was "plain" and built in the "American vernacular".[42]

The house has a two-and-half story central section, which is 48 feet (14.6 m) by 43 feet (13.1 m), and two one-story wings on the north and south sides that are each 22 feet (6.7 m) by 21 feet (6.4 m). The first and second floors have a total area of 5,052 square feet (469 m²).[50] The north wing was the laboratory and the south wing (which had an attached woodshed) was the summer kitchen. The cellar, first, and second floors of the central section are each divided into four rooms, with a central hall on the first and second floors; the first floor also has an intersecting hall that leads to the laboratory. The attic has three rooms for servants and a larger room for storage.[7] A paint analysis done in 1994 revealed that the house had no wall paper initially and that the walls and woodwork were painted "a brilliant white".[51]

Datei:Priestley Foyer.jpg
Lack of skilled craftsmen forced accommodations, like this stairwell probably built from a kit and one step short

The house is a frame structure, covered with white wooden clapboards, anchored to a stone foundation. The Priestleys built their home out of wood, dried in trenches on the site,[2] because no stone or brick was available in the area. Joseph wrote a detailed description of the drying process, concluding: "A house constructed with such boards I prefer to one of brick and stone".[52] This may have prompted journalist William Cobbett to caustically label the house a "shed" in one of his political tirades against Joseph.[53] The central section of the house has a slate gable roof with a railing-enclosed deck. The house has "three internal gable end chimneys, one for the main kitchen", and one each at the north and south ends of the central section.[7]

The house faces the Susquehanna River, and both the front and rear doors are "sheltered by a shallow portico".[7] A circular carriage drive (originally gravel, now concrete) leads to the front door, which also has a fanlight. There are five windows on the second floor on both the front and rear sides of the house, with a dentil cornice above both sets of windows.[7] The external details on the house also include a "frieze board with triglyphs".[2]

Originally, delightful panoramic views were visible from the home. It was built facing the Susquehanna River so that visitors arriving by boat could be welcomed by the family and because conventional 18th-century aesthetic theory held that countryscapes were more beautiful than townscapes. Priestley built a high wall blocking the view of Northumberland and added a belvedere to the top of his house to more easily survey the landscape.[54] His plantings were "a much scaled-down version of the beautiful gardens" at Bowood, the estate of his former employer Lord Shelburne.[55]

The lack of skilled craftspeople in Northumberland made the construction of the house difficult. For example, Richardson speculates that the main staircase was assembled from a kit. It is one step too short for the Northumberland hallway, but no extra step was added to finish off the symmetry of the stairwell, suggesting a dearth of skilled labor.[56]

Ownership and museum

After the deaths of Mary and Joseph Priestley, Joseph Priestley, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Ryland, continued to live in the house until 1811, at which time they emigrated to Britain and sold the home. The house passed through various hands during the 19th century. Judge Seth Chapman purchased the house from Joseph Priestley Jr. on May 13, 1815 for US$6,250. Chapman died on December 4, 1835, and Rev. James Kay, pastor of the Northumberland Unitarian congregation, and his family lived in the house next. James Kay died on September 22, 1847 and his widow probably lived in the house until her October 2, 1850 death. Charles H. Kay, son of James, had purchased the house in 1845, a few years before his parents' deaths.[57] In April 1865 Charles Kay's children sold the house to Henry R. Campbell for $2,775. Florence Bingham purchased the house from Campbell for $5,679.53 on January 18, 1868, and Bingham's heirs sold it to T. Hugh Johnson for $2,000 on October 7, 1882. Kate Scott bought the house for $3,000 on April 11, 1888[58]. In 1911 the last private resident moved out of the house,[59] and it was sublet to the Pennsylvania Railroad for its workers (a large railroad yard was built in Northumberland at this time). This led to a general decline in the house and its grounds.[57]

[[Hilfe:Cache|Fehler beim Thumbnail-Erstellen]]:
Priestley's library, with his chess set and globe

Professor George Gilbert Pond was the first person to make a significant effort to establish a permanent Priestley museum at the Priestley House.[60] After raising sufficient funds, he managed to purchase the home at auction for $6,000 from Scott's heirs on November 24, 1919. Pond believed that construction of a new railroad line would destroy the house, and so intended to move it to Pennsylvania State College (now Pennsylvania State University). However, he died on May 20, 1920 before this plan could be enacted; the planned rail line was never built and the house proved too fragile to move. The college established a memorial fund in Pond's honor and retained the house as a museum, although Pond's children did not formally transfer the house to the college until April 14, 1932.[57][61] Some restoration of the house was done in the 1920s,[57] and a small, brick building—intended as a fireproof museum for Priestley's books and scientific apparatus—was built on the grounds and dedicated to Pond's memory in 1926.[39][62] In 1941 the state legislature tried to have the State Historical Commission administer the house as a museum, but Governor Arthur James vetoed the plan for lack of funding.[63]

On December 14, 1955, the college donated the house to the borough of Northumberland.[64] From 1955 to 1959 the house served as both the borough hall for Northumberland and as a museum.[59] The house proved too costly for the borough to maintain, and was acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1961.[41][65] Eventually, in 1968 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) began restoring it and in October 1970 the museum was opened to the public.[66] The renovations included a restoration of the laboratory, a removal of ornamentation added in the Victorian era, a return of doorways to their original locations, and a return of the shutters "to their original locations inside the windows".[67] The PHMC was supported by the "The Friends of the Joseph Priestley House" (FJPH), who help with the visitor center, tours, special events, and outreach, as well as with clerical and museum work.[68]

Between 1998 and 1999 a renovation that was "one of the most extensive changes in the homestead's history" set out to "restore the grounds around the house to exactly the way it was when Priestley lived" there.[59] This involved reconstructing exact replicas of the original carriage barn, hog sties, horse stalls, gardens, fences, and even the privy. These structures were based on T. Lambourne's drawings of the house and grounds that had been discovered in 1983, other records, and excavations.[69] Priestley left no written description of his laboratory, but much is known of his experiments and late-18th-century laboratories. Extensive research on the laboratory within the house was completed in 1996, including excavations that revealed two underground ovens, as well as evidence of a primitive fume hood.[70] The 1998 renovations also included work to restore the laboratory to a condition as close to its original state as possible.[41][59]

After Joseph's death, Thomas Cooper sold a collection of some of his friend's apparatus and other personal belongings to Dickinson College in Carlisle,[71] which exhibits it each year when presenting the school's Priestley Award to a scientist who makes "discoveries which contribute to the welfare of mankind".[72][73] The house lost its original furnishings when Joseph Jr. and his family moved back to England. Since it is not known what was originally in the home, it is furnished and decorated with artifacts donated by descendants of the Priestleys and with ones similar to those listed in Priestley's testament of what was lost in the fire at his Birmingham home.[74] A number of items that belonged to Joseph and Mary during their lives both in Britain and America are on display throughout the house, including Joseph's balance scales and microscope.[75] Portraits, prints, maps, charts, and books have been carefully selected to replicate the Priestleys' holdings.[76] A bedroom on the second floor is dedicated to an exploration of the life of an 18th-century woman.[74]

On January 12, 1965, the Joseph Priestley House was designated a National Historic Landmark and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on October 15, 1966.[45][77][78] On August 1, 1994, the American Chemical Society named it the second National Historic Chemical Landmark; the dedication ceremony was attended by 75 Priestley descendants.[39][79] In 1988, the Northumberland Historic District, including the Priestley House (which it describes as a "gem" and one of the finest Federal style buildings in central Pennsylvania), was listed on the NRHP. The district includes one other building already on the NRHP: the Priestley-Forsyth Memorial Library, which was built as an inn around 1820 and was owned by a great-grandson of the Priestleys in the 1880s. Today it serves as Northumberland's public library. The Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel, which is a contributing structure in the historic district, was built in 1834 by his grandson, and is home to a Unitarian Universalist congregation that considers Priestley its founder.[2][80]

Under the PHMC, the museum was open ten months a year, closing between early January and early March. In 2007 and 2008 the number of visitors held steady after recent declines.[81] According to the PHMC, in fiscal 2007–08 "total visitation ... was 1,705 with a paid visitation of 1,100 generating $4,125 in program revenue and 2,406 recreational and non-ticketed visitors".[82] The fiscal 2006–07 operations budget for the house and its two full-time staff was $142,901, with $6,900 (five percent) coming from FJPH and the rest from the state of Pennsylvania.[82]

Datei:Priestley Lab V.jpg
Panoramic view of the interior of Priestley's lab in June, 2009

On March 4, 2009 the PHMC released a report examining its 22 museums and historic sites and recommended discontinuing operations at six, including the Joseph Priestley House. The proposed closure of the Priestley House was based on "low visitation and limited potential for growth".[82][83][84] Despite public meetings, protest letters, and a general "public outcry" against closure,[85][86] on August 14, 2009 the state closed the Priestley House and three other PHMC museums indefinitely due to a lack of funding as part of an ongoing budget crisis.[87] The sole remaining state employee at Priestley House was furloughed. That month the Friends of the Joseph Priestley House submitted a plan to the PHMC to operate the house on weekends from May to October with staffing provided by volunteers. The plan depended both on acquiring insurance for the volunteers, the house, and its contents, and on the state passing a budget.[88]

On September 24, 2009 the PHMC and officers of the FJPH signed an agreement to reopen the museum on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The house reopened on October 3, with volunteer staffing from the FJPH. The agreement can be renewed annually and lets FJPH "schedule programs, set fees and be in charge of all the business aspects of running the site".[89] On November 1, there was a "grand reopening celebration" at the house with a dozen costumed volunteer guides and chemical demonstrations in Priestley's laboratory.[90] On November 7, 2010 the brick Pond building was rededicated after an $85,000 renovation, as part of the museum's annual "Fall Heritage Day".[91][92] The restoration, which had been planned for years,[93] was paid for by private donors and included "handicapped accessibility, new roofing, heating and air-conditioning and new interior walls, ceilings and lighting".[91] The FJPH plan to install a timeline of Priestley's scientific work and times in the Pond building, as well as a video about his laboratory techniques and impact today.[91]

American Chemical Society

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has used the Joseph Priestley House as a place to mark special celebrations. On July 31 and August 1, 1874, "seventy-seven chemists made a pilgrimage to the site to celebrate the centennial of chemistry".[53] The date was chosen to mark the hundredth anniversary of Priestley's experiment producing oxygen by heating mercuric oxide with a magnifying lens and sunlight. These chemists came from 15 US states and the District of Columbia, Canada, and England, and their meeting at the house and a local school "is now recognized as the first National Chemistry Congress, and many ACS historians believe it led to ACS's formation two years later on April 6, 1876".[39][57] On September 5, 1926, about 500 ACS members met again at the home to dedicate the small brick museum and to celebrate the meeting 50 years earlier (two survivors of that first meeting were present).[94]

Representatives of the ACS were present at the October 1970 dedication of the house as a museum.[95] On April 25, 1974 around 400 chemists from the ACS Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting in Scranton came to visit the home. The Priestley Medal, the highest and oldest honor awarded by the ACS, was awarded to Paul Flory at the house that day. (A replica of the Priestley Medal is on display at the house.) On August 1, 1974—what has been labeled the bicentennial of the discovery of oxygen—over 500 chemists attending the third Biennial Conference on Chemical Education at State College traveled to the house to celebrate "Oxygen Day". In October 1976, the ACS celebrated its own centennial with a celebration in Northumberland. A 100-plus piece replica of Priestley's laboratory equipment, made by universities, corporations, and the Smithsonian Institution, was presented to the house for display.[95] On April 13, 1983, ACS President Fred Basolo spoke at the house to celebrate Priestley's 250th birthday and as part of a first day of issue ceremony for the United States Postal Service's Joseph Priestley commemorative stamp.[96] In 2001 the ACS again met at the house to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the society, and reenacted parts of the 1874 and 1926 celebrations, including a march to Priestley's grave, at which each participant left a red rose.[39][97]

Datei:Priestley House Front Panorama 2.jpg
vergrößern und Informationen zum Bild anzeigen
Panorama of front side of the Joseph Priestley House, facing the Susquehanna River (southeast). Structures from left to right are: Privy, Carriage Barn (now Visitors Center), wood sheds (all reconstructed), Summer Kitchen (attached to Kitchen), Kitchen wing, Main House, passage to Laboratory, Laboratory wing, and Pond Museum (built in 1926 of brick). Note circular driveway in foreground

Vorlage:Panorama/Wartung/Para4

Weblinks

Commons: Joseph Priestley House – Sammlung von Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

Literatur

Einzelnachweise

  1. ↑ Hirsch, 25; Bell, 517–18.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f McMinn, "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Northumberland Historic District" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Schofield, 346–47; Kieft, 7.
  4. ↑ Schofield, 347; Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 21.
  5. ↑ Glazer, "Scientist Discovered Oxygen".
  6. ↑ Kieft, 11; Bell, 531.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g Greenwood, "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Joseph Priestley House (PDF)".
  8. ↑ Bell, 515–45.
  9. ↑ Schofield, 347.
  10. ↑ Schofield, 317–21.
  11. ↑ Hirsch, 25; Graham, 1.
  12. ↑ Dr Name des Schiffes war „Samson“ laut Kieft (7), aber Schofield (324) gibt den Namen mit „Sansom“ an.
  13. ↑ Schofield, 324.
  14. ↑ Graham, 29.
  15. ↑ Rail, 158; Kieft, 6.
  16. ↑ Schofield, 326.
  17. ↑ Qtd. in Graham, 39.
  18. ↑ Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 22
  19. ↑ Schofield, 324–32; Graham, 39–40, 48–50, 64.
  20. ↑ Bowers, 3.
  21. ↑ Priestley Chapel History: The Beginning
  22. ↑ Bowers, 2.
  23. ↑ Garrett, "Priestley's Religion", 12.
  24. ↑ Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 62, 67.
  25. ↑ Kieft, 7.
  26. ↑ Schofield, 346; Graham, 60–61; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 62.
  27. ↑ Qtd. in Graham, 61; see also 64–65.
  28. ↑ Qtd. in Graham, 68; see also 71, 76.
  29. ↑ Graham, 80.
  30. ↑ Schofield, 354.
  31. ↑ Schofield, 352–72.
  32. ↑ Schofield, 329–38; Graham 53–54, 110–14.
  33. ↑ Priestley, Joseph. Letters to the inhabitants of Northumberland and its neighbourhood, on subjects interesting to the author, and to them. Parts I & II. Northumberland [Pa.]: Printed for the author by Andrew Kennedy, 1799.
  34. ↑ Schofield, 348.
  35. ↑ Qtd. in Kieft, 8.
  36. ↑ Rail
  37. ↑ Schofield, 405–06.
  38. ↑ a b Suplee, Joseph Priestley: Discoverer of Oxygen.
  39. ↑ a b c d e MacDermott, 43–44.
  40. ↑ Hirsch, 26.
  41. ↑ a b c d Silverman, Joseph Priestley: Catalyst of the Enlightenment".
  42. ↑ a b Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 63.
  43. ↑ Hirsch, 27.
  44. ↑ Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 61.
  45. ↑ a b c Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 20.
  46. ↑ Hirsch, 40–41; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 61.
  47. ↑ This chronology follows Hirsch, Kieft, and Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", however McMinn gives the completion date for the whole house as 1797; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 63.
  48. ↑ Hirsch, 28.
  49. ↑ Hirsch, 29.
  50. ↑ If the cellar and attic are included, the total area of the house is 9,180 square feet (853 m²).
  51. ↑ Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 23.
  52. ↑ Qtd. in Kieft, 8
  53. ↑ a b Hirsch, 30.
  54. ↑ Hirsch, 30, 37.
  55. ↑ Hirsch, 37.
  56. ↑ Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 64.
  57. ↑ a b c d e Kieft, 11–12.
  58. ↑ Hirsch, 30; Kieft, 11; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 64.
  59. ↑ a b c d Glazer, "Extensive Changes Underway at Priestley House".
  60. ↑ Hirsch, 31; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 64.
  61. ↑ Walker, 153–157.
  62. ↑ Hirsch, 31; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 65.
  63. ↑ Snyder.
  64. ↑ Hirsch, 31; Kieft, 13.
  65. ↑ Kieft, 13.
  66. ↑ Hirsch, 31; Kieft, 13; Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 65.
  67. ↑ Kieft, 14; The main entrance to the house was also moved to the river side (the original front door) from the Priestley Ave. side (the original back door).
  68. ↑ Kieft, i.
  69. ↑ Hirsch, 26, 32.
  70. ↑ Hirsch, 31–32.
  71. ↑ Paul, 19; for a more extensive discussion of the college's holdings, see Peter M. Lukehart, "The Early History of the Joseph Priestley collection at Dickinson College", Joseph Priestley in America, 1794–1804. Ed. Peter M. Lukehart. Carlisle, PA: Trout Gallery, Dickinson College (1994).
  72. ↑ Joseph Priestley Celebration
  73. ↑ Paul, 19.
  74. ↑ a b Hirsch, 32–33.
  75. ↑ Hirsch, 41.
  76. ↑ Hirsch, 39.
  77. ↑ "Joseph Priestley House National Historic Landmark Summary Listing".
  78. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places", Reference Number 66000673.
  79. ↑ Hirsch, 31, 33; Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 20.
  80. ↑ Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 21.
  81. ↑ Bashore, 2.
  82. ↑ a b c Planning Our Future: Sustainability Committee Final Report
  83. ↑ Dandes.
  84. ↑ Schulz.
  85. ↑ Scott.
  86. ↑ Hoffmann.
  87. ↑ Rujumba.
  88. ↑ Laepple, "State budget impasse closes historic Joseph Priestley House".
  89. ↑ Laepple, "Friends group to reopen Priestley House".
  90. ↑ Priestley House Museum to hold re-opening celebration
  91. ↑ a b c Fall Heritage Day planned at Joseph Priestley House
  92. ↑ Rovner, 63.
  93. ↑ Hirsch, 47.
  94. ↑ Hirsch, 30–31; Kieft, 12–13; Richardson, "Current Interpretation", 20.
  95. ↑ a b Kieft, 14.
  96. ↑ Kieft, 15–16.
  97. ↑ Richardson, "Joseph Priestley's American Home", 61, 65.


Abgerufen von „https://de.wikiup.org/index.php?title=Benutzer:Cimbail/Joseph_Priestley_House&oldid=137322219“